'''Fisk University''' is an [[Historically black colleges and universities|historically black university]] founded in 1866 in [[Nashville, Tennessee|Nashville]], [[Tennessee]], [[United States|U.S.]] The world-famous [[Fisk Jubilee Singers]] started as a group of students who performed to earn enough money to save the school at a critical time of financial shortages. They toured to raise funds
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'''Fisk University''' is an [[Historically black colleges and universities|historically black university]] founded in 1866 in [[Nashville, Tennessee|Nashville]], [[Tennessee]], [[United States|U.S.]] The world-famous [[Fisk Jubilee Singers]] started as a group of students who performed to earn enough money to save the school at a critical time of financial shortages. They toured to raise funds to build the first building for the education of [[freedmen]]. They succeeded and funded construction of the renowned [[Jubilee Hall (Fisk University)|Jubilee Hall]], now a designated [[National Historic Landmark]]. The {{convert|40|acre|m2|adj=on}} campus is a historic district listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]].
In 1930, Fisk was the first African-American institution to gain accreditation by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. Accreditations for specialized programs quickly followed. In 1952, Fisk was the first predominantly black college to earn a [[Phi Beta Kappa]] charter. Organized as the Delta of Tennessee Chapter of the [[Phi Beta Kappa]] National Honor Society that December, the chapter inducted its first student members on April 4, 1953.
On March 12, 2008, [[Metropolitan Council (Nashville)|Nashville's Metro Council]] passed a resolution declaring March 19 Fisk University Day in honor of its record of academic excellence.
==History==
[[File:GenCBFisk.jpg|thumb|left|upright|University namesake [[Clinton B. Fisk]]]]
[[File:Fiskuniversity-class.jpg|thumb|right|A class circa 1900]]
In 1866 six months after the end of the [[American Civil War]], leaders of the northern [[American Missionary Association]] (AMA): [[John Ogden (academic)|John Ogden]], Reverend [[Erastus Milo Cravath]], field secretary; and Reverend [[Edward Parmelee Smith]] founded the Fisk Free Colored School, for education of freedmen. AMA support meant the organization tried to use its sources across the country to aid education for freedmen. Enrollment jumped from 200 to 900 in the first several months of the school, indicating freedmen's strong desire for education, with ages of students ranging from seven to seventy. The school was named in honor of General [[Clinton B. Fisk]] of the Tennessee [[Freedmen's Bureau]], who made unused barracks available to the school, as well as establishing the first free schools for white and black children in Tennessee. In addition, he endowed Fisk with a total of $30,000. The American Missionary Association's work was supported by the [[United Church of Christ]], which retains an affiliation with the university. Fisk opened to classes on January 9, 1866.
With Tennessee's passage of legislation to support public education, leaders saw a need for training teachers, and Fisk University was incorporated as a [[normal school]] for college training in August 1867. Cravath organized the College Department and the [[Mozart]] Society, the first musical organization in Tennessee. Rising enrollment added to the needs of the university. In 1870 Adam Knight Spence became principal of the Fisk Normal School. To raise money for the school's education initiatives, his wife Catherine Mackie Spence traveled throughout the United States to set up mission Sunday schools in support of Fisk students, organizing endowments through the AMA. With a strong interest in religion and the arts, Adam Spence supported the start of a student choir. In 1871 the student choir went on a fund-raising tour in Europe; they were the start of the [[Fisk Jubilee Singers]]. They raised nearly $50,000, which enabled the construction of Jubilee Hall. The building was designated a [[National Historic Landmark]].
During the 1880s Fisk had an active building program, as well as expanding its curriculum offerings. By the turn of the century, it added black teachers and staff to the university, and a second generation of free blacks entered classes.
In 1947 Fisk heralded its first [[African American|African-American]] [[president]] with the arrival of [[Charles S. Johnson|Charles Spurgeon Johnson]]. Johnson was a premier [[sociology|sociologist]], a scholar who had been the editor of ''Opportunity'' magazine, a noted periodical of the [[Harlem Renaissance]].
In 2002 Fisk University and [[Case Western Reserve University]] in [[Cleveland, Ohio]] established an educational partnership to expand opportunities for students, faculty and staff at both institutions: Fisk with the special qualities of a small liberal arts college and Case Western with others as a major research university. "Through the partnership, students have the chance to enroll in dual-degree programs and participate in student exchanges and joint research with a national or international scope. The possibilities that await faculty members at both institutions are equally as stimulating. The collaborative agreement has paved the way for joint research, faculty exchanges, and distance-learning classes facilitated by cutting-edge technology."
Since 2004, Fisk University has been directed by its 14th president, the Honorable [[Hazel O'Leary]], former [[United States Secretary of Energy|Secretary of Energy]] under [[President of the United States|President]] [[Bill Clinton]]. She is the second woman to serve as president of the university. On June 25, 2008, Fisk announced that it had successfully raised $4 million during the fiscal year ending June 30. It ended nine years of budget deficits and qualified for a [[Mellon Foundation]] challenge grant.{{Citation needed|date=July 2008}} However, Fisk still faces significant financial hardship, and claims that it may need to close its doors unless its finances improve.
==Campus==
[[Jubilee Hall (Fisk University)|Jubilee Hall]], which was recently restored, is the oldest and most distinctive structure of [[Victorian architecture]] on the 40 acre (160,000 m²) Fisk campus.
{{-}}
==Music, art, and literature collections==
[[File:WTN EVula 187.jpg|thumb|right|150px|[[Jubilee Hall (Fisk University)]]]]
Fisk University is the home of a music literature collection founded by the noted [[Harlem Renaissance]] figure [[Carl Van Vechten]].
===Alfred Stieglitz Collection===
In 1949, painter [[Georgia O'Keeffe]] facilitated the exchange of 99 paintings from the estate of her husband, [[Alfred Stieglitz]]. She made an outright gift of two of her own paintings to the school. These are on permanent display at the University's Carl Van Vechten Galleries.
In 2005, mounting financial difficulties led the University trustees to vote to sell two of the paintings, O'Keeffe's "Radiator Building" and [[Marsden Hartley]]'s "Painting No. 3". (Together these were estimated to be worth up to 45 million U.S. dollars.) However, the [[Georgia O'Keeffe Museum]], the legal guardians of her estate, sued to stop the sale on the basis that the original bequest did not allow the art to be sold. At the end of 2007 a plan to share the collection with the [[Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art]] to earn money was being fought in court by the O'Keeffe Museum.
==Science programs==
Fisk University has a strong record of academic excellence: it has graduated more African Americans who go on to earn PhDs in the natural sciences than any other institution.
==Ranking==
Fisk University is one of four Historically Black Colleges and Universities to earn a [[tier]] [[one]] ranking on the list of Best National Liberal Arts Colleges in the 2011 edition of Best Colleges by [[U.S. News and World Reports]]. Of the 1,400 institutions ranked nationwide, only 246 institutions earned tier one status.
Fisk is on [[Parade Magazine]]'s "A List" for colleges and universities who offer both a Bachelor's and Master's degree.
In 2010, the [[Washington Monthly]] ranked Fisk 29th among America's Best Liberal Arts Colleges.
According to the [[Princeton Review]], Fisk University is one of America's 373 Best Colleges & Universities.
==Notable alumni==
[[File:WEB DuBois 1918.jpg|thumb|right|90px|[[W.E.B. DuBois]]]]
[[Image:Brady_stelmo.jpg|thumb|right|90px|[[St. Elmo Brady]]]]
[[File:William_L._Dawson.jpg|thumb|right|90px|[[William L. Dawson (politician)]]]]
[[File:Charles_C._Diggs.jpg|thumb|right|90px|[[Charles Diggs]]]]
[[File:John Hope Franklin.png|thumb|right|90px|[[John Hope Franklin]]]]
[[File:Nikki Giovanni speaking at Emory University 2008.jpg|thumb|right|90px|[[Nikki Giovanni]]]]
[[File:John lewis official biopic.jpg|thumb|right|90px|[[John Lewis (U.S. politician)|John Lewis]]]]
[[File:David-levering-lewis2-sm.jpg|thumb|right|90px|[[David Levering Lewis]] -
[[Pulitzer Prize]] winner]]
[[File:Hazel O'Leary.jpg|thumb|right|90px|[[Hazel O'Leary]] 7th [[U.S. Secretary of Energy]]]]
[[Image:Baker motley 1998.jpg|thumb|right|90px|[[Constance Baker Motley]]]]
[[File:Wademccree.jpg|thumb|right|90px|[[Wade H. McCree]]]]
[[File:Ida B. Wells Barnett.jpg|thumb|right|90px|[[Ida B. Wells]]]]
[[File:Fredrica Wilson 112th Congress Portrait.jpg|thumb|right|90px|[[Frederica Wilson]] [[Congresswoman]]]]
[[Image:Yerby_frank.jpg|thumb|right|90px|[[Frank Yerby]]]]
{{AlumniStart}}
{{Alum|name=[[Lil Hardin Armstrong]]|year=1915|nota=jazz pianist/composer, second wife of [[Louis Armstrong]]|ref=}}
{{Alum|name= [[Constance Baker Motley]]|year=1941-1942|nota=first African-American woman elected to the [[New York State Senate]]|ref=}}
{{Alum|name= [[Marion Barry]]|year=1960|nota=former mayor of [[Washington, D.C.]]|ref=}}
{{Alum|name= [[Mary Frances Berry]]|year=|nota=former Chair, [[United States Commission on Civil Rights]]; former [[Chancellor]] [[University of Colorado at Boulder]]|ref=}}
{{Alum|name= [[John Betsch]]|year=1967|nota=Jazz percusionist|ref=}}
{{Alum|name=Joyce Bolden|year=|nota=first African-American woman to serve on the Commission for Accreditation of the National Association of Schools of Music|ref=}}
{{Alum|name= [[Otis Boykin]]|year=1942|nota=Inventor, control device for the [[heart pacemaker]]|ref=}}
{{Alum|name=[[St. Elmo Brady]]|year=|nota=first African American to earn a doctorate in [[Chemistry]]|ref=}}
{{Alum|name= [[Cora Brown]]|year=|nota=first African-American woman elected to a state senate|ref=}}
{{Alum|name= [[Henry Alvin Cameron]]|year=1896|nota=Educator, decorated World War I veteran|ref=}}
{{Alum|name=[[J.O. Patterson, Jr.]]|year=1958|nota= First African American to occupy the office of Mayor of Memphis. Tennessee State Representative, State Senator, Memphis Councilman, Jurisdictional Bishop in the Church of God in Christ |ref=}}
{{Alum|name= [[Elizabeth Hortense Canady|Elizabeth Hortense (Golden) Canady]] |year=|nota=past national president of [[Delta Sigma Theta]] sorority|ref=}}
{{Alum|name= [[Alfred O. Coffin]]|year=|nota=first African American to earn a doctorate in zoology|ref=}}
{{Alum|name=[[Johnnetta B. Cole]]|year=|nota=anthropologist, former President of [[Spelman College]] and [[Bennett College]]|ref=}}
{{Alum|name=[[William L. Dawson (politician)]]|year=1909|nota=[[United States House of Representatives|U.S. Congressman]] (1943-1970)|ref=}}
{{Alum|name=[[Arthur Cunningham]]|year=1951|nota=Musical Composer, studied at [[Juilliard]] and [[Columbia University]]|ref=}}
{{Alum|name=[[Charles Diggs]]|year=|nota=[[United States House of Representatives]] Michigan (1955-1980)|ref=}}
{{Alum|name=[[Mahala Ashley Dickerson]]|year=1935|nota=first black female attorney in the state of [[Alabama]] and first black president of the [[National Association of Women Lawyers]]|ref=}}
{{Alum|name=[[W. E. B. Du Bois]]|year=1888|nota=sociologist, scholar, first African-American to earn a Ph.D. from [[Harvard University|Harvard]]|ref=}}
{{Alum|name=[[Venida Evans]]|year=1969|nota=Actress, best known for [[Ikea]] commercials|ref=}}
{{Alum|name=[[Etta Zuber Falconer]]|year=1953|nota=first African-American woman to receive a [[Ph.D.]] in [[mathematics]]; former Chair, mathematics department at [[Spelman College]]|ref=}}
{{Alum|name=[[John Hope Franklin]]|year=1935|nota=historian, [[professor]], scholar, author of landmark text ''From Slavery to Freedom''|ref=}}
{{Alum|name=[[Victor O. Frazer]]|year=|nota=[[United States House of Representatives]] (1995-1997)|ref=}}
{{Alum|name=[[Alonzo Fulgham]]|year=|nota=[[former acting chief and operating officer of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)]]|ref=}}
{{Alum|name=[[Nikki Giovanni]]|year=1967|nota=poet, author, professor, scholar|ref=}}
{{Alum|name=[[Louis George Gregory]]|year=|nota=[[Hand of the Cause]] in the [[Bahá'í Faith]]|ref=}}
{{Alum|name=[[Alcee Hastings]]|year=|nota=[[United States House of Representatives|U.S. Congressman]] and former U.S. district court judge|ref=}}
{{Alum|name=[[Roland Hayes]]|year=|nota=concert singer|ref=}}
{{Alum|name=[[Perry Wilbon Howard]]|year=|nota=Assistant U.S. [[Attorney General]] under President [[Herbert Hoover]]|ref=}}
{{Alum|name=[[Elmer Imes]]|year=1903|nota=Renowned Physicist and Second African-American to earn a Ph.D in [[Physics]]|ref=}}
{{Alum|name=[[Esther Cooper Jackson]]|year=1940|nota=Founding editor of ''[[Freedomways]]'' Journal|ref=}}
{{Alum|name= [[Leonard Jackson (actor)]]|year=1952|nota=Actor, [[Five on the Black Hand Side]]; [[The Color Purple]]|ref=}}
{{Alum|name=[[Robert James (defensive back)|Robert James]]|year=|nota=former [[NFL]] cornerback|ref=}}
{{Alum|name=[[Judith Jamison]]|year=|nota=Pioneering Dancer and Choreographer; former artistic Director, [[Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater]]|ref=}}
{{Alum|name= Ted Jarrett|year=|nota=R&B recording artist and producer|ref=}}
{{Alum|name= Dr. Charles Jeter|year=1971|nota=father of [[Derek Jeter]]|ref=}}
{{Alum|name=[[Ben Jobe]]|year=1956|nota=Legendary basketball coach, [[Southern University]]|ref=}}
{{Alum|name=[[Lewis Wade Jones]]|year=1931|nota=Sociologist; [[Julius Rosenwald Foundation]] Fellow at [[Columbia University]]|ref=}}
{{Alum|name=[[Ella Mae Johnson]]|year=1921|nota=at age 105 years old, Ella Mae Johnson traveled to [[Washington, DC]] to attend the inauguration of [[Barack Obama]]|ref=}}
{{Alum|name=[[Matthew Knowles]]|year=1973|nota=Father and manager of [[Beyoncé Knowles]]|ref=}}
{{Alum|name= [[Nella Larsen]]|year=1908|nota=Novelist, [[Harlem Renaissance]] era|ref=}}
{{Alum|name=[[Julius Lester]]|year=1960|nota=Author of children's books and former professor at the [[University of Massachusetts Amherst]]|ref=}}
{{Alum|name=[[David Levering Lewis]]|year=|nota= Two-time [[Pulitzer Prize]] Winner|ref=}}
{{Alum|name=[[John Lewis (U.S. politician)|John Lewis]]|year=|nota=[[Congressman]], civil rights activist, former President of [[Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee]] (SNCC)|ref=}}
{{Alum|name=[[Jimmie Lunceford]]|year=1925|nota=famous [[bandleader]] in the [[swing era]]|ref=}}
{{Alum|name= [[Aubrey Lyles]]|year=1903|nota=Vaudville performer|ref=}}
{{Alum|name=E.M. Lysonge|year=1998|nota=Former SGA President. Currently serves as Senior Director of the [[Churchill Downs Racetrack]]|ref=}}
{{Alum|name=[[Mandisa]]|year=2001|nota=Grammy and Dove Award-nominated Christian contemporary singer/songwriter, ninth-place finalist in the fifth season (2006) of ''American Idol''|ref=}}
{{Alum|name=[[Patti J. Malone]]|year=1880|nota=Fisk Jubilee Singer|ref=}}
{{Alum|name= [[Louis E. Martin]]|year=1933|nota=Godfather of Black Politics|ref=}}
{{Alum|name=[[Wade H. McCree]]|year=1941|nota=Second African-American [[United States Solicitor General]] ; [[Justice]] , [[U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit]]|ref=}}
{{Alum|name=[[Samuel A. McElwee]]|year=1883|nota= State Senator during the [[Reconstruction Era]] and the first African American elected three times to the Tennessee General Assembly|ref=}}
{{Alum|name=[[Robert McFerrin]]|year=|nota=first African American male to sing at the [[Metropolitan Opera]] and father of [[Bobby McFerrin]]|ref=}}
{{Alum|name=[[Leslie Meek]]|year=1987|nota=[[Administrative Law Judge]], wife of [[Congressman]] [[Kendrick Meek]]|ref=}}
{{Alum|name=Ronald E. Mickens|year=|nota=[[Physicist]], winner of the [[Edward Bouchet]] [[Award]]|ref=}}
{{Alum|name= [[Theo Mitchell]]|year=1960|nota=Senator, [[South Carolina General Assembly]]|ref=}}
{{Alum|name=[[Undine Smith Moore]]|year=|nota=first Fisk graduate to receive a scholarship to [[Juilliard]], [[Pulitzer Prize]] Nominee|ref=}}
{{Alum|name=[[Diane Nash]]|year=|nota=founding member of [[SNCC]]|ref=}}
{{Alum|name=[[Rachel B. Noel]]|year=|nota=Politician; first African-American to serve on the [[Denver Public Schools]] [[Board of Education]]|ref=}}
{{Alum|name=[[Hazel R. O'Leary|Hon. Hazel O'Leary]]|dept=|nota=former U.S. [[Secretary of Energy]]|ref=}}
{{Alum|name=[[Helen Phillips]]|year=1928|nota=first African-American to perform with the [[Metropolitan Opera]] Chorus|ref=}}
{{Alum|name=[[Annette Lewis Phinazee]]|year=1939|nota=first black woman to earn a doctorate in library sciences from [[Columbia University]]|ref=}}
{{Alum|name=Anita Ponder|year=|nota=Partner, [[Drinker Biddle & Reath]] LLC; Super Lawyers (2005, 2007, 2008 and 2009)|ref=}}
{{Alum|name=[[Alma Powell]]|year=|nota=wife of Gen. [[Colin Powell]]|ref=}}
{{Alum|name= Kay George Roberts|year=|nota=orchestral conductor|ref=}}
{{Alum|name=Bradley T Sheares|year=|nota=former [[CEO]] [[Reliant Pharmaceuticals]]; former President, H.H. Division, [[Merck & Co.]]|ref=}}
{{Alum|name=Martha Lynn Sherrod|year=|nota=Presiding District Court Judge, first African American to win an at-large election in North Alabama since Reconstruction|ref=}}
{{Alum|name= [[Lorenzo Dow Turner]]|year=1910|nota=Linguist and Chair, African Studies at [[Roosevelt University]]|ref=}}
{{Alum|name=[[A. Maceo Walker]]|year=1930|nota=Businessman, Universal Life Insurance, Tri-State Bank|ref=}}
{{Alum|name=[[Ron Walters]]|year=1963|nota=Scholar of African-American politics, Chair, Afro-American Studies [[Brandeis University]]|ref=}}
{{Alum|name=[[Margaret Murray Washington]]|year=1890|nota=Lady Principal of [[Tuskegee Institute]] and third wife of [[Booker T. Washington]]|ref=}}
{{Alum|name=[[Ida B. Wells]]|year=|nota=American civil rights activist and women's suffrage advocate|ref=}}
{{Alum|name=[[Charles H. Wesley]]|year=1911|nota=President of [[Wilberforce University]] from 1942 to 1947, and President of [[Central State University|Central State College]] from 1947-1965; third African-American to receive a Ph.D. from [[Harvard]]|ref=}}
{{Alum|name=[[Kym Whitley]]|year=|nota=actress, comedienne|ref=}}
{{Alum|name=[[Frederica Wilson]]|year=1963|nota=U.S. Representative for Florida's 17th congressional district|ref=}}
{{Alum|name= [[Tom Wilson (producer)]]|year=1953|nota=Music producer, best known for his work with [[Bob Dylan]] and [[Frank Zappa]]|ref=}}
{{Alum|name=Yetta Young|year=1991|nota=First to produce all African-American celebrity cast of the Obie-Award winning play [[The Vagina Monologues]]. Actresses have included [[Academy Award]] Winner [[Mo'Nique]] and [[Academy Award]] Nominee [[Taraji P. Henson]]|ref=}}
{{Alum|name=[[Frank Yerby]]|year=1938|nota=first African-American to publish a best-selling novel|ref=}}
{{AlumniEnd}}
==Notable faculty==
{{FacultyStart}}
{{Faculty|name=[[Arna Bontemps]]|dept=[[Librarian]]|nota=Head [[Librarian]]; [[Harlem Renaissance]] Poet|ref=}}
{{Faculty|name=[[Robert Hayden]]|dept=|nota=[[United States Poet Laureate]] 1976-1978|ref=}}
{{Faculty|name=[[Charles Spurgeon Johnson]]|dept=[[President]]|nota=First African American President of Fisk University|ref=}}
{{Faculty|name=[[Thomas Elsa Jones]]|dept=[[President]]|nota=Fifth President of Fisk University|ref=}}
{{Faculty|name=[[Percy Lavon Julian]]|dept=[[Chemistry]]|nota=first African-American [[Chemist]] and second African-American from any field to become a member of the [[United States National Academy of Sciences|National Academy of Sciences]]|ref=}}
{{Faculty|name=[[Lee Lorch]]|dept=Mathematics|nota=mathematician and civil rights activist. Fired in 1955 for refusing to testify before the [[House Un-American Activities Committee]].|ref=}}
{{Faculty|name=[[Hazel R. O'Leary|Hon. Hazel O'Leary]]|dept=President|nota=former U.S. [[Secretary of Energy]]|ref=}}
{{Faculty|name=[[John Oliver Killens]]|dept=Writer in Residence|nota=Two-time [[Pulitzer Prize]] Nominee|ref=}}
{{Faculty|name=[[Nikki Giovanni]]|dept=English|nota=author, poet, activist|ref=}}
{{Faculty|name=[[James Weldon Johnson]]|dept=Literature|nota=author, poet and civil rights activist, author of ''[[Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing]]'', known as the "Negro National Anthem" |ref=}}
{{Faculty|name=[[John W. Work III]]|dept=Music|nota=Choir Director, Ethnomusicologist and scholar of Afro-American folk music|ref=}}
{{Faculty|name=[[Aaron Douglas]]|dept=Art|nota=painter, illustrator, muralist|ref=}}
{{Faculty|name=[[Robert E. Park]]|dept=Sociology|nota=sociologist of the [[Chicago school (sociology)|Chicago School]]|ref=}}
{{FacultyEnd}}
==External links==
{{Commons category}}
{{Private colleges and universities in Tennessee}}
{{HBCU}}
{{coord missing|Tennessee}}